Computer Aided Implant Surgery (CAIS) is gaining popularity among dental professionals. Improvements in imaging technologies in both Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) and intraoral scanner (IOS) devices in combination with further development of the planning software have resulted not only in a more user-friendly process but also in more accurate outcomes using these surgical approaches. When comparing the ITI Consensus Conference systematic reviews by Tahmaseb et al. in 2014 (Tahmaseb et al. 2014) and 2018 (Tahmaseb et al. 2018), it can be stated that accuracy for CAIS has improved, especially when performed in partially edentulous patients.

Based on these studies and information provided by the developing companies, it can also be concluded that the majority of system upgrades deal only with the software programming dedicated to these approaches. The software not only processes the information retrieved from CBCT and IOS devices but also the surgical and planning aspects of the treatment.

On the production side, too, the information transfer from the planning software to the production devices – milling or printing – have been through major positive transformation in terms of technical precision and accuracy (Tahmaseb et al. 2018).

However, often not much has been done, and not by all the companies involved, regarding surgical instrumentation and the ability to transfer information from the virtual environment.

The hardware components used in CAIS are listed below (Fig. 1):

• The drill guides with or without sleeves
• The guided drills
• The diameter-adjusting drill handles
• The guided implant mounts